17 hours Ago
In 2013, Marcus Christiana-Beniger and his wife Eunah Kang-Beniger had a choice to make. The couple signed a lease to open a restaurant and adjacent bar in Chinatown, but because resources were limited, only one could happen first. They put aside Christiana-Beninger’s longtime dream to open a New Orleans-style bar to focus on their restaurant Little Jewel of New Orleans .
The bar that would eventually become Evangeline Swamp Room , which opened in mid-December 2024, would have to wait another 10 years. “We elected to do the restaurant first because we would have [had to rebuild] the bar,” says Christiana-Beniger. “At the time, we were renters.
But we also bought the building toward the end of the pandemic in 2023.” Evangeline Swamp Room joins a small group of select bars in Chinatown, with Apotheke , Melody Lounge , and General Lee’s among them. All have a strong local following; some live in historic buildings, like the Swamp Room.
But the Benigers zeroed in on something rarely seen in Los Angeles: a bar and lounge that can transport one immediately to New Orleans with a sharply made Sazerac, mint julep, hurricane, French 75, and Ramos Gin Fizz. It also serves the vibrant, regional Creole-Cajun food from Little Jewel. The new Evangeline Swamp Room seats 50 in a historic building built in the 1800s that housed Chung Mee Cafe from 1939 to 1987.
It’s a stunning interior transformation with a custom 15-seat bar and gold ceiling tiles. The partners took great care to maintain as much of the space’s original detail as possible, including its vintage hotel windows, though they added Louisiana French shutters. Little Jewel provides food for the Swamp Room, with overflow seating that can squeeze in another 70.
The owners named it Evangeline from the Henry Wadsworth poem with the same name. It details the struggle of the Acadians, who were expelled from Nova Scotia in the 1700s and settled in Louisiana. The Acadians eventually became known as Cajuns.
As a New Orleans native, Christiana-Beninger’s roots are on full display through Evangeline Swamp Room’s abbreviated food menu. Bar-goers can catch a football game and pore over dishes like red beans and rice, jambalaya, charbroiled oysters, alligator chili, deep-fried frog legs, crawfish-flecked macaroni and cheese, and French Quarter-style bread pudding — all staples from Little Jewel. All cocktails are under $18 and the food ranges from $8 to $23.
Takeout from the Little Jewel is also available. In the coming weeks, Evangeline Swamp Room will launch weekend brunch. “We will start doing jazz, seafood boils, and music with someone shucking oysters and flights to get ready for Mardi Gras,” Christiana-Beninger says.
Before Christiana-Beninger became a restaurant owner, he was one of the operators of Black Octopus, one of Downtown’s longest-running after-hours clubs throughout the late 1990s and 2000s. While still operating Black Octopus, his longtime friend (then barback) Evan Mack suggested they open a bar together. Mack is now a partner in Evangeline Swamp Room.
“When I first moved to LA, I wanted a loft to host parties in Downtown,” says Christiana-Beninger. “We’ve talked about this since I arrived from New Orleans in 1997. It’s weird to see it actually happen.
” Evangeline Swamp Room is open Wednesday and Thursday from 6 p.m. to 11 p.
m., Friday and Saturday until 1 a.m.
, and 1 p.m. to 11 p.
m. on Sundays 701 N. Spring Street, Chinatown, CA, 90012.
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